Quality Systems in Recession

During the current downturn, many organizations are in a back to basics mode.  Every non-essential activity is on hold.  Often this includes the ISO 9001 quality management system activities, or at least many of them.  One audit client recently said to me “We are committed to our systems but they don’t apply right now because we have downsized significantly and don’t have the resources to do all of the activities.  Once we are back to normal, we will be doing all of the system activities again.” But, this is not the time for putting the system on hold.  It is a time to rethink the systems, re-structure your resources and ensure that they add value and protect your organization.  Your quality management system should be helping reduce risks associated with smaller staffs and leaner work forces.  The systems should also be helping the organization prepare for the new economy that will be the reality once this downturn is over.   This is also a time to remove the dogma that is embedded in many systems.  Most organizations have processes that were initially put into the system because everyone did it that way.  Most of these processes were never required to be implemented the way they were.   Often these processes were easy to implement, but costly and inefficient to operate.  Now is a good time to re-think these processes and to make them useful and manageable.